Fantastic! I really enjoy the home made Butterfly doll with the wire structure underneath. Even her umbilical cord is a wire. The fishbowl womb is quite cool! I can't quite figure out why it is used, other than maybe the relation of Butterfly and the ocean. She watches the horizon for Pinkerton's ship every day for three years. The constant connection by umbilical cord reminds us to what extent Butterfly lived only for her child. It makes me laugh to see that Pinkerton (the sailor) and his American wife are Ken and Barbie. (Plastic butt love scene? Hilarious!) In addition, this particular Barbie has practically "collected" one child from each race. The most incredible moment of all is when Butterfly leaves the set to dismember and unplug herself.
Only the single aria "Un bel dì" is used for the entire film. This plays on a phonograph held by Butterfly. That is the intention behind the entire aria, to be Butterfly's constant prayer that she clings to blindly. She kills herself (at least in this video) to the phrase "io con sicura fede l'aspetto" (I with secure faith wait for him).
In the opera, Kate (the new wife) is seen as an innocent, benevolent character. She is not a heartless, stupid Barbie. She is a woman told by her new husband that he married and impregnated a fifteen year-old Japanese girl! Pinkerton is the truly detestable enemy in this story.
I would call Butterfly a feminist character. She is a brave woman who abandons her religion and consequently her entire family for love. She is a teenage girl who manages to care for a child mostly on her own. When her true love betrays her, she agrees to give up her son so he may have a better life in the United States. And most astonishing of all, she is able to commit suicide with a blade, to "die with honor". All of these actions are much braver than anything the honorable Lieutenant Pinkerton could have done in his entire military career.
In parting, I say, "Oh yes, I would love to play Madama Butterfly."
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